Essential Maternity Workwear

Hello ladies,

I am 13 weeks pregnant and will soon be starting my very first office job. I have some work-appropriate clothes that I bought when I started interviewing earlier this year but not enough to get me through a five day week. Seeing as I need to buy new clothes anyway I figured I would get some maternity stuff. My question is to those of you who've been pregnant before/are further along than me - what have you found to be the best basics? My mum has suggested getting a couple of maternity pinafores and some black trousers as a good starting point - what do you think?

How Strange

I got a nice pair of trousers in topshop. I'm 21wks now and i was still able to fit into some work trousers up until last week. Belly bands are great. You put them over your normal trousers and you can leave them unzipped. H&m and topshop sell them.

Dorothy Perkins and h&m sell long black skirts. Isabelle Oliver has a website for maternity clothes. They're expensive but I might invest in a dress or two for work. I also keep an eye out for non maternity empire line dresses that can be worn a size or two bigger.

Stick it out in your own clothes for as long as possible and use the belly bands on trousers otherwise you'll spend a fortune over your pregnancy as you'll do a lot of growing from 20 wks or so my doctor told me last week.

Cat Melodeon

I got 2 pairs of work trousers and 2 pairs of casual jeans/combats. I also got a few cardis & tops, basic stuff suitable for work but dressable uppable. All were bought from the H&M or Dorothy Perkins maternity ranges. I got a couple of t-shirts from mamafeelsgood.com and a boob b-warmer hoody from onceborn.com. Most expensive item was a pair of maternity pants for yoga from Mothercare at €28. Looking back at that list, it seems like a lot but actually I didn't spend very much. I got most of the stuff on sale. Do invest in a couple of decent bras, don't bother with fancy nightwear - stretchy pjs from Dunnes do grand.

How Strange

+1 for the bras. M&S are great for bras; I got my first fitting at 9wks and had gone up 1 size and my 2nd at around 15wks. I don't think they've grown too much in last few weeks but will go for another fitting next month.

flower tattoo

i bought stretchy black lycra trousers 3 sizes too big and they grew with me for the whole pregnancy -

sbhomebird

Hi ,
I got some bits in H&M and M&S... M&S great for work things. the black trousers are a safe bet coz they'll go with anything.... but the pinafore is a great idea coz you can wear different coloured tops underneath them.

there's also an irish site that sells tights specifically for work, and they have a dedicated maternity section... it's called worktights...could find something useful there

How Strange

Do M&S sell maternity clothes?

I got some stuff in H&M yesterday in the normal womens section. The maternity stuff was so dowdy I felt like crying. I bought long sleeve tops in medium rather than small and the are really long so they fit over the bump. I got a knitted dress in a size bigger which looks lovely on and I got a box type jacket a size bigger which I can wear with a long skirt or trousers.

I have 2 ordinary dresses from H&M which are quite loose so they still fit.

I now have a set wardrobe for 5 days and will stick to that. There's no point in buying too much as I'll only be wearing them for max 3.5 months.

How Strange

Just to add, I read somewhere that you should enjoy wearing different types of clothes to your prepregnancy style. I'm doing just that with tight fitting skirts and knitted dresses which I'd never normally wear because of my big hips.

Somehow it looks nice with the bump!

NextSteps

How Strange wrote: »

Do M&S sell maternity clothes?

I got some stuff in H&M yesterday in the normal womens section. The maternity stuff was so dowdy I felt like crying. I bought long sleeve tops in medium rather than small and the are really long so they fit over the bump. I got a knitted dress in a size bigger which looks lovely on and I got a box type jacket a size bigger which I can wear with a long skirt or trousers.

I went looking for maternity clothes recently and it's really limited, especially if you don't want to wear jeans/black trousers ALL the time. I wanted a nice simple A-line skirt but there was literally nothing. H&M was about the best I found, and at least it's very cheap.

littlemissfixit

Try www.eloramaternity.com , I got nice basic trousers there for 9 euros, they always have a selection of sales items under 20 euros, the rest is expensive enough, but they have nice stuff and deliver quickly.
Dont buy too much at the time though, you dont know how you're going to grow, the first pair of jeans I bought from Next maternity, very nice, glad I took my size even though I was tempted to go sizes bigger to make the most of it, but I didn't put weight anywhere else, so still wearing the same at 37 weeks... goes the other way around too though.
The belt-extender a good idea too.